PKR recovers by 72 paisa in interbank

December 30, 2021 (MLN): After witnessing a long spell of depreciation, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) managed to gain 72 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency closed the trade at PKR 177.51 per USD.

 Yesterday, the local unit had settled at PKR 178.24 per USD.

“As we are approaching year-end there is nothing much to talk about Rupee, as corporate sector has squared their books. It’s the year-end payments that make PKR vulnerable,” Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan noted.

However, to manage cash flows, PKR versus dollar short-dated swaps will remain active in the interbank market, he added.

Malik Bostan, President Forex Association of Pakistan told Mettis that this appreciation can also be attributed to the approval of the State Bank's autonomy bill by the cabinet.

However, the rupee may join back its downward trend at the beginning of the new year as the government has to pay huge import bills.

The rupee endured a volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of 1.05 rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 178.35 and an intraday Low offer of 177.30.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs19.97 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by PKR17.67 in CY21, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a decline of 1.01%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

Within the open market, PKR was traded at 179.50/181 per USD.

Meanwhile, the currency gained 11 paisa against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 239.03 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 239.14 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value strengthened by 10 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 200.87 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 10.50/10.60 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.85/9.95 percent.

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